The Engelese® Word Play program makes it fun and easy to learn how to speak, read and write simple words. Spoken words are a series of sounds, and Word Play helps kids learn new words by focusing on those sounds.

The Word Play app is a starting point of the Engelese® learning series. The full set of free apps (Making Words, Word Play and The Billy Goats Gruff pop-up story) can be used to provide a comprehensive set of exercises for both beginning and intermediate readers. The paid programs can then be added for a complete learning experience.

The program runs on the iPad and can be downloaded from the App Store now.

Keep watching, we will be adding more lists of words.

There will also a version for the Macintosh® or Windows® desktop or laptop computers which will be offered for download from this website in the near future.

Click on any image below to zoom out to a full size picture.

Playing The Game

To play the game the kids first hear a word spoken along with an example sentence using that word. Then they “spell” the word by dragging sound pictures from the keypad into the target word. Sounds must be added in left to right order just like spelling. Only correct pictures are accepted. Wrong sounds are returned to the keypad.

The patented Engelese® NewRead® system represents sounds with pictures of common objects that stand for the first sound in their names. For example, the word “mean” is drawn with a mouse, an ear and a needle. Kids quickly recognize the pictures and their related sounds: mmm- eee- nnn.

After adding all the correct sounds to the word, it is spoken again in a normal speed and a special “slow-talk” style that accentuates the sounds. The Play button can then be used to advance to the next word.

Play Options

There are various options that can be used to change the play as kids become more proficient. This keeps the game more exciting and gives the reader a sense of achievement.

Skill levels start easy by showing the word’s English characters with hints of the correct sound picture. The second skill level drops the sound picture hint but keeps the English spelling. The third, and most difficult skill level, relies on the spoken word. By this time the reader must identify the sounds in a word by hearing only.

Mastery of the highest skill level indicates that the reader is able to discriminate individual sounds in a word. Which means they are well on their way to reading and writing English words.

Another option provides a way to change which set of sound glyphs are used.

These default pictures are full color drawings that represent the 30 sounds most frequently used in English. They are designed to be easily recognized, making the transition from naming the image to saying the sound quick and easy.

The progression of words in the program start with the easiest sounds to recognize and say. Then more advanced (difficult) sounds are slowly added to the mix. Only a few pictures need to be learned at each step. By focusing on the picture-sound relationship of just a few glyphs at a time we insure that the exercises don’t become overwhelming.

After becoming familiar with the sound pictures you can switch to “dot letters” which are an advanced form of Engelese® NewRead® writing.

If you look closely you will notice that these glyphs are suggestive of the picture sounds already learned. And yet they are very similar to standard English characters. Dot letters provide a intermediate step from writing English words with their inherent sounds to using standard English letters.

With this play option you can control the speed of learning. Switching glyph types can occur at any time, even during a single exercise.

Home Screen

The Home screen is where you select the words used in the current set of exercises. Here we see all of the 18 stages of simple CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words. Each stage introduces a new vowel sound. New consonant sounds are also introduced in various exercise sets. The exact words used in the different exercise sets are carefully chosen to gradually guide the reader through a progression from easy to more difficult words.

The initial version of the Engelese® Word Play program is free, with the first 3 exercises, and can be downloaded from the App Store. Other exercise word lists will be available later from this web site and the App Store. (Prices are not yet determined.)

Future exercise lists will include:

CVCC words

CCVC words

CCVCC words

After successfully completing all of the exercises at all skill levels, the child will have speaking, reading and writing competency of over 1,500 words.

Help Screen

A complete set of instructions are included on screen, a feature that has been overlooked with many apps for mobile devices.

The Help screen can be accessed at any time included during a Word Play exercise. A parent doesn’t have to become an export to help the reader because all the details are just a click away.